


like a phone booth

by jessicamiriamdrew



Category: Glee
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Sartie week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-27
Updated: 2012-09-27
Packaged: 2017-11-15 03:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/522766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessicamiriamdrew/pseuds/jessicamiriamdrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artie has always had to be his own super hero. Sam shows him that he may not have to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like a phone booth

Artie Abrams has spent a long time taking care of himself. He’s had to. Other people think the wheelchair makes him fragile.

He lets them believe it sometimes. It’s easier to maintain control from the sidelines; people trust you there. No one is ever going to suspect Artie of trickery.

His defense mechanisms are elaborate. He’s had to be his own fucking superhero his entire life—no one is ever going to champion his cause. Sure, people don’t mean to exclude him with their thoughtlessness but they do it all the same.

Sam changes all of that the second he comes into McKinley. For one of the only times he can remember, someone doesn’t look at him and see Artie + wheelchair but just sees Artie as a person. It’s not Artie and but just Artie. Everyone else stumbles around his wheelchair when they talk to him but Sam understands how they fit together.

He’s known that Sam is chipping away at all of his strongholds every minute they spend together. Every high five, all the geeky references, all of it, convinces Artie that this is something good.

When Sam asks him to go to Breadstix, hand nervously scratching the back of his neck, Artie doesn’t think about how he’s always felt like a background player in his own life. He says, “Is this a date?” Sam blushes and Artie says yes.

Maybe Artie doesn’t need to be a superhero anymore. Maybe he can be a regular high school kid with his first boyfriend.


End file.
